MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Chile attempts to soothe Argentina.

In the midst of the latest Chilean-Argentine diplomatic incident involving the incoming Chilean Foreign Affairs minister, the Chilean government revealed that three servicemen caught red-handed spying when last year they broke into the Argentine consulate in Punta Arenas had been forced to retire.

According to Argentine press reports the three intelligence servicemen, (two from the Army and one Air Force) who on Sunday November 9 were surprised inside the Argentine consulate taking pictures and micro filming documents, are definitively no longer in active service.

The spying incident at the time caused a strong diplomatic reaction from Argentina which was then cooled by several direct phone calls between the two countries presidents, Mr. Lagos and Mr. Kirchner. The General in charge of the powerful Punta Arenas garrison and who was mentioned at the moment as the strongest candidate to become Army Commander in Chief was forced to resign.

However the airing of the news which so far had remained secret is interpreted as one of the several soothing signals from the Lagos administration that was seriously embarrassed when it became public that the incoming Foreign Affairs minister Ignacio Walker, last May wrote a column in Santiago's main daily El Mercurio, titled "Our Argentine friends", fiercely criticizing the Peronist party as "authoritarian and fascist", and President Kirchner as a "populist" only concerned with public opinion polls.

Although Mr. Walker has repeatedly apologized for the article and President Lagos is trying to downplay the gaffe, the Kirchner administration seems unmoved which has exposed the Chilean government to strong attacks from the opposition.

"Improvisation is evident; the cabinet reshuffle was done in haste", blasted Joaquin Lavin, mayor of Santiago and the main opposition leader.

However, "I don't believe a new Foreign Affairs minister must begin by apologizing to Argentina, and it's the President's responsibility to find a solution to the incident because he conducts Chilean foreign policy".

Opposition Senator Sergio Romero president of the Foreign Affairs Committee said the Chilean government "has not been disrespectful of President Kirchner, and the Chilean government can't be forced to a humiliating position".

He added that when Mr. Walker published the article he did it "as a simple citizen with an academic insight since he happens to be a political scientist".

"We support the government's foreign policy, but one must be prudent and analytical about the situation", added Senator Romero recalling that Mr. Kirchner even before becoming Argentine president "did not necessarily have kind words for Chile".